About this landmark

Plaque text:

Lest We Forget
Walerga Assembly Center was established by the United States at the outset of World War II to assemble and temporarily detain, without charge or trial, 4,739 Sacramento residents solely because of their Japanese ancestry. Approximately 120,000 persons were uprooted from their West Coast homes and interned in ten War Relocation Centers. Over two-thirds were American citizens by birth. Given the opportunity, many thousands left the ten centers to work on farms and in war industries or to serve with valor in the armed forces. Their acts and deeds gave living proof that Americanism is a matter of mind and heart, not a matter of race or ancestry. May this memorial remind all Americans to be alert so that such injustices never recur.
Camp Kohler succeeded Walerga Assembly Center with the departure of the last Japanese American internees in late June, 1942. After being take over by the Army Signal Corps, the camp's facilities were greatly expanded to house and train military personnel. Camp Kohler became one of the Corps' three principal trainng centers during World War II.